114 
SPOUT AND WAR. 
CHAP. XIV. 
had hit was struck in the eye or through the head, the 
head and shoulders alone being exposed from behind 
the rocks while taking aim at us. Seven great Kafirs 
lay dead at our feet, two others were just alive. We 
followed the mass of the retreating enemy some dis¬ 
tance into the bush. There was a good deal of blood 
from wounded men carried to the rear, and we could 
hear the retreating enemy breaking through the bushes 
like a herd of buffaloes. 
We then returned to examine our respective posi¬ 
tions. I had taken cover behind a not very large rock, 
with a second rock on the top of it, with a wedge- 
shaped chink horizontally between the two. It was 
through this chink that I was enabled to take deli¬ 
berate aim ; but mine being a smooth-bore gun, I give 
the palm of those killed to my friend Currie, who was 
one of the best rifle-shots of the day. Strange to say, 
I had placed my forage-cap, with a silver-bound peak, 
on another stone about a yard to my right, and this 
took off the fire from me. Fully five-and-twenty shots 
hit this stone, and the fine splinters from the rock 
often struck me on the face and hands, but not one of 
the bullets hit the cap. This rock is still seen by 
passers-by almost covered with lead in star-shaped 
forms from the flattened balls. General Sir H. Somer¬ 
set happened to arrive on the ground soon after the 
action, and he sent on my report of the affair to the 
